Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 09/04) - Ken Woodley is not Michael Caine. Though Woodley plays Frank the alcoholic professor in the British comedy Educating Rita, a role Caine made famous in the film of the same name, he doesn't care about comparisons.

"I'm not worried about that at all," he said.

In fact, Woodley's biggest challenge is making sure the character of Frank doesn't get dwarfed by Rita, the boisterous woman who wants an education, who is being played by Anna Tesar.

But Tesar said Woodley's Frank isn't understated, but "way up there."

"Frank's a bit of a lush," she said.

"And Rita is a saucy girl, hungry for knowledge."

Though just learning all the dialogue in a two-person play was a challenge for Tesar, at least the accent was easy to master. Tesar lived in England and can do all sorts of British accents from working class to posh.

Educating Rita is Kitsch In Sync's next dinner theatre production, which opens at Lucille's on April 14.

"Who really gets educated in this play?" asked director Chris Foreman.

In the play, the character of the professor learns as much about life from his student as she learns from him. The play could have been called Educating Frank.

"It's a truly engaging comedy about class struggle and relationships," he said.

Foreman has been juggling rehearsals of Educating Rita with those for South Pacific, alternating the grand spectacle of South Pacific, with the intimate group for Educating Rita, which consists of only four people (Foreman, Woodley, Tesar and the stage manager).

Though the film version won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay, Foreman said in some ways the play is superior.

"One of the big things we've found is the movie is not nearly as funny as the stage play," said Foreman.

In the film, there were actors playing secondary characters like Rita's husband. In the play, the audience only hears Rita or Frank talk about the other characters.

"They're much more interesting when they're only described," said Foreman.

One difference between this dinner theatre production and the earlier shows like the Artificial Jungle and Sex Tips for Modern Girls, is that Lucille's will be handling the catering instead of Le Frolic, so playgoers will need to arrive on time to place their orders.